So before I got too far along with #2 that the airlines wouldn't let me on the plane anymore we decided to take one last trip as the 3 of us. A few other families thought that sounded like a great idea so we rentened a large villa in Sorrento and had the Fenn's, Fay's and McAlisters join us.
The villa picked us up in a large van, it was quite a process getting all of us and all our luggage loaded after a 7 hr flight but knowing that good food and wine awaited us soon helped keep spirits up. 
In total we had 4 families, 3 with kids and Jaydon was the oldest at 2. You can just imagine the amount of baby gear that we required for the trip and basically anytime we left the villa. 
The weather was a little cold and rainy but we didn't mind because it forced us to take it easy and spend time playing with kids and cooking up big fancy dinners for the group. Main requirement for all meals was it had to include some type of pork product. The kids all had fun playing with each others toys and it gave them lots of oppurtunities to "practice" sharing. 
Jaydon's favorite toy was Heidi's little pink tea pot that offered you tea in a british accent and sung lots of cute little songs. 
The villa also had a grand sitting area with a piano, the boys had a great time tunning up their musical skills. 
Our first outing was to the Isle of Capri. Steve and I went to capri for our honeymoon so it was fun to come back and see how much of it we still remembered. 
The ferry ride on the way over was very choppy and a few in our group got sea sick (none of the Connors though). Jaydon thought it was great fun when the boat hit a wave and was laughing his head off the last part of the journey. I think his giggling helped get a lot of our boat mates through the trip - you just can't resist smiling to the sounds of a laughing toddler. 
Italy in March is the low season and in Capri you can really tell. 
Most of the shops and resturants were closed so we spent the time walking through the small town and enjoying the views. Jaydon insisted on riding in the bus up to the top of island 'by himself'. 
We got the first taste of trying to schedule kids lunches around ferry schedules and streets full of closed resturants. We made it through the adventure and again having homemade pasta and ice cream was the perfect way to end the excursion before getting back on the ferry. 
Most of the days we just took it easy and hung out around the villa. Steve took the oppurtunity to spend a lot of time in his pajamas. 
Jaydon quickly learned that he had a full audiance that needed some entertainment. 
Our big adventure for the trip was a day at Pompei. We rented a large van, loaded everone up for a slow and twisting ride through the hills from Sorennto to Naples. We learned why Italians have the reputation of being late - the traffic can be horrible and very unpredictable. Jaydon really got into the idea of Volcanos. Every mountain we saw he'd explain how the mountain goes "rumble, rumble and then ash and fire goes everywhere and you get an owie." 
Heidi took the trip in the back-pack but Jaydon is too big for such things so we mistakingly thought we'd just keep him in the stroller. 
We ended up walking the ruins with Jaydon on one of us and the stroller/diaper bag on the other (not recomended!!).
The highlight (if you can call it that) was the mummified people and animals that have been found throughout the site. We spent most of our time in a very well preserved villa that still had intact frescos on the walls. It was very weird to be in the villa knowing that the mummified resident was hanging out there with you. 
Three babies in a tub - rub a dub dub... 
We couldn't resist setting up the photo op. 
Just imagine, getting 3 kids in the tub (Heidi wasn't a big fan of sharing her tub time with the boys) with 6 parents crammed in a european size bathroom - 1 with a heavy duty camera snapping away pictures and one with a video camera. The ways we come up to entertain ourselves... 
Steve would also like to point out that Jaydon has inheriated his high forehead (i.e. I'm not losing my hair, I just have a high forehead...) 
Most days our big adventure was heading out to lunch. The Fenn's had passed through Sorrento on an earlier trip with a driver who brought them to the 'best resturant in italy'. It's quite a title to live up too but the Fenns loved it so much that they made sure to plan a day for the whole group to experince it. 
It may not be the Best in Italy but we definitly ranked it the best for our trip! 
The restruant had a wonderful ambience with a whole outdoor seating area under a lemon grove (which was closed since it's the low season but they opened it up for us to see and let the kids run around in). They also had a large wine cellar/cave that they brought a few of us down too. Steve decided that since we were doing dinners at the villa we should treat ourselves to some extra special wines. The owner was happy to show Steve his best stuff and we drank like Kings for the trip.
After lunch when the weather cleared up we would take nice walks and enjoy the great playground that was just 2 blocks away from the villa. 
Jaydon got to experince his first merry-go-round, and getting so dizzy that he couldn't walk - he thought it was great, mom was a little too worried about Jaydon losing his balance and falling in the mud...Another lunch adventure with great views,
so-so food (but great bread), 
good friends, 
probably too much beer (and wine), 
and umm pink bows...
When Abby showed up she was able to show 
That was a big help so that Mommy didn't have to climb in anymore. Abby had a pinata shaped like an ice cream cone. 
Once again the pinata was too strong for the kids to break and when the adults tried their hand at it most of the goodies inside got smashed to bits. 
After the pinata fun it was time for cupcakes - 
Then on to the ice cream - no sharing there, 
Some of the guys decided it would be fun to try and do a beach camping day the 
I brought 
He made a few sand castles, or should I say others made a few sand castles and 
He also had fun throwing the ball for Athena a couple people in the group are taking a photography class and used 
The only downside of the day was the wind. This picture is telling and it blew that hard all day. 
The group planning to camp out 
On Sunday morning when I dropped him off at Starfish they had already decorated for him. I had baked enough cupcakes on Thursday that we had enough for his party, his school party, and I still had to bring a bunch to work. 
(2 batches is way too many when you do orange and party confetti flavored - I have a feeling I would not have had such a hard time getting ride of them if they had been chocolate). 
The next few weeks were spent opening up his many presents. 
And playing with all the leftover balloons. He also got a big birthday hug from his nanny 
